Darcie Brown v. City of North Chicago

July 10, 2012

DARCIE BROWN, PLAINTIFF,v.CITY OF NORTH CHICAGO, ET AL.DEFENDANTS.

The opinion of the court was delivered by: Judge Joan B. Gottschall

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER

Plaintiff Darcie Brown sued the City of North Chicago ("the City"), its mayor, the members of the North Chicago City Council, the members of the North Chicago Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, and Police Chief Michael Newsome (collectively "Defendants") for employment discrimination in violation of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. § 2000(e) et seq., and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Now before the court is Defendants' motion to dismiss the complaint. For the reasons explained below, the court dismisses Brown's Title VII claim without prejudice for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The court dismisses Brown's § 1983 claims against the individual defendants in their official capacities as redundant. Finally, Brown's § 1983 claims against the City are dismissed without prejudice because she has not adequately pleaded an unlawful municipal policy.

I. BACKGROUND

Brown is employed by the City as a police sergeant. She filed a "Complaint of Employment Discrimination" in this court on December 16, 2011. (Compl., ECF No. 1.) Brown states in her complaint that Defendants discriminated against her based on sex, "race, color, or national origin," "failed to stop harassment; retaliated against [her] because [she] did something to assert rights protected by [anti-discrimination] laws," "knowingly created a hostile work environment for [her] and by design discriminated against her based on her gender," and denied her an opportunity to take an exam required for a sergeant to be considered for a promotion to lieutenant. (Compl. at ¶¶ 15, 16.)

The allegation concerning the lieutenant's exam is the only specific factual allegation in Brown's complaint, but she alleges numerous additional facts in her response to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. The general rule in the Seventh Circuit is that a district court must consider additional facts set forth in a brief opposing a Rule 12(b)(6) motion so long as those facts are consistent with the complaint. See Flying J, Inc. v. City of New Haven, 549 F.3d 538, 542 n.1 (7th Cir. 2008) (considering facts on appeal that were not presented in the complaint). The court will therefore consider the additional facts alleged in Brown's response.

In her response, Brown further states that she was appointed "temporary sergeant" by the Police and Fire Commission in January 2009. (Pl.'s Resp. to Mot. to Dismiss 1, ECF No. 12.) She argues that "under Illinois law," such temporary appointments must not exceed 60 days, but that she held the temporary sergeant position until November 2009, when she was finally sworn in as a full-time sergeant. No person but Brown had previously held or currently holds the temporary sergeant position. In February 2010, Brown was told that she was not eligible to take the promotional exam to become a lieutenant because she had not been a full-time sergeant for a year-a requirement for the promotion. Brown argues that she had been performing a sergeant's duties for more than a year and that Defendants were "biased . . . toward the male Sergeants." (Id.) Brown also states in her response that she was repeatedly suspended "without due process," and was "the only one who has been treated in such a fashion, as compared to her male counterparts." (Id. at 3.) She also claims that her life was threatened by a subordinate officer and that the City did not take it as seriously as when the Police Chief's life was threatened; that she was forced "to take FMLA at no pay" when she had emergency surgery, although a male officer who was similarly "out for four weeks . . . was not forced to take FMLA;" that the City's Human Resources department would not allow her to receive donated leave time for an illness from fellow officers, although a male sergeant received donated hours; and that she was required to see the City's doctor to be cleared for light duty after her illness, when a male officer was released to light duty without having to see the City's doctor. (Id. at 3-4.)

Brown filed a number of charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") and the Illinois Department of Human Rights ("IDHR"). Although she did not file copies of her charges and right-to-sue letters with her complaint, she did attach copies of two right-to-sue letters to her response, along with an "order of closure" for an additional charge filed with the IDHR and then withdrawn. She admits in her response that she filed yet another charge with the IDHR that "is still open," but states that the pending charge "centers on sexual orientation which is not a federally protected class." (Id. at 7.) Defendants attached to their reply brief a copy of Brown's most recent administrative charge, filed with the IDHR on December 12, 2011. The charge states that it was cross-filed with the EEOC. It alleges that the City discriminated against Brown based on her sex and sexual orientation. A number of the allegations in the charge are the same as those Brown asserts in the present action, including that the City denied her request to take the lieutenant's exam, forced her to take FMLA leave when she had emergency surgery, refused to allow other officers to donate leave time to her, and forced her to see the City's doctor in order to be released to light duty.

II.LEGAL STANDARDS

To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (citing Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007)). A claim satisfies this pleading standard when its factual allegations "raise a right to relief above the speculative level." Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555-56; see also Swanson v. Citibank, N.A., 614 F.3d 400, 404 (7th Cir. 2010) ("[P]laintiff must give enough details about the subject-matter of the case to present a story that holds together."). For purposes of the motion to dismiss, the court takes all facts alleged in the plaintiff's complaint as true and draws all reasonable inferences from those facts in favor of plaintiff, although conclusory allegations that merely recite the elements of a claim are not entitled to this presumption of truth. Virnich v. Vorwald, 664 F.3d 206, 212 (7th Cir. 2011).

III.ANALYSIS

A. Brown's Title VII Claims

Before bringing a claim under Title VII, a plaintiff "is required to exhaust her administrative remedies by filing a complaint with the appropriate federal or state agency." Dandy v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 388 F.3d 263, 270 (7th Cir. 2004). In order to bring a civil action alleging a violation of Title VII, Brown must exhaust her administrative remedies with the EEOC. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000e--5(e); Doe v. Oberweis Dairy, 456 F.3d 704, 708 (7th Cir. 2006). Defendants argue that one of Brown's administrative charges is still pending and that her suit must therefore be dismissed because she has failed to exhaust her administrative remedies.

In addition to the allegations contained in the complaint, "documents attached to a motion to dismiss are considered part of the pleadings if they are referred to in the plaintiff's complaint and are central to [her] claim." 188 LLC v. Trinity Indus. Inc., 300 F.3d 730, 735 (7th Cir. 2002). A court "may also take judicial notice of matters of public record." Henson v. CSC Credit Servs., 29 F.3d 280, 284 (7th Cir. 1994); McGee v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., No. 01 C 9099, 2002 WL 449061, at *2 (N.D. Ill. Mar. 22, 2002) ("[T]he court may take judicial notice of . . . records of administrative bodies such as the IDHR."). The court therefore considers the IDHR and EEOC charges submitted by the parties to determine whether Brown has exhausted her administrative remedies.

The court concludes that Brown's Title VII claims are premature, because they rely on the same alleged facts as the December 12, 2011, charge of sex and sexual-orientation discrimination currently pending before the IDHR and cross-filed with the EEOC. Absent a right-to-sue letter from the EEOC, which Brown has not yet received, this court may not yet hear a cause of action based on the charge. See Conner v. Ill. Dep't of Natural Res., 413 F.3d 675, 680 (7th Cir. 2005) (stating that the EEOC must issue a ...

Our website includes the first part of the main text of the court's opinion.
To read the entire case, you must purchase the decision for download. With purchase,
you also receive any available docket numbers, case citations or footnotes, dissents
and concurrences that accompany the decision.
Docket numbers and/or citations allow you to research a case further or to use a case in a
legal proceeding. Footnotes (if any) include details of the court's decision. If the document contains a simple affirmation or denial without discussion,
there may not be additional text.

Buy This Entire Record For
$7.95

Download the entire decision to receive the complete text, official citation,
docket number, dissents and concurrences, and footnotes for this case.